


Finding My Way Back to Your Side

by Akiko_Natsuko



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 16:09:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17470736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: If someone had asked Aries a couple of years ago what love was, she would have blushed and nervously tried to explain the fluttery feeling that had flooded her chest the day that he had saved her. Not once, even when they had been apart for years, or even when they had been enemies, had she forgotten the warmth that had blossomed in her heart when she’d watched Leo materialise to save her.





	Finding My Way Back to Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> “Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest, and it opens up your heart, and It means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.” (Neil Gaiman)

    If someone had asked Aries a couple of years ago what love was, she would have blushed and nervously tried to explain the fluttery feeling that had flooded her chest the day that he had saved her. Not once, even when they had been apart for years, or even when they had been enemies, had she forgotten the warmth that had blossomed in her heart when she’d watched Leo materialise to save her. Feeling his power, his anger and his need to protect her as he had forced her gate closed. He had risked everything for her that day, and in the days that followed as he stopped Karen from being able to call on her, at least until that fateful day… And she hadn’t wept for the death of her owner, but she had cried at the news that he was banished, at the thought that they probably wouldn’t see each other again. That she would never get to say ‘thank you’ or act on that fluttery warmth in her chest if she’d ever been able to find the courage to do so.

_Spirits don’t do well in the human world…_

    It was the cold, cruel fact of their existence. It was why she had been so terrified by Karen’s threat to chain her in that world because she was aware of the limits of her own strength and she knew that she would never have lasted long. _He’s going to die,_ she heard it whispered amongst the other spirits, even though they did their best not to say it when she was around, and she wondered why they hid it. It wasn’t as though she was unaware of that fact, or that she was blind to the fact Leo had already held himself in the human world for weeks. _How much longer?_ She couldn’t even go and see him, she lacked the strength to open a gate herself, and she was now ownerless, forced to wait until someone claimed her key before she could return.

_He might be gone by then…_

   She had no idea of the grief written across her face in those days. That the tremor in her voice was no longer nervousness, but a pain that she didn’t know how to express.

_I lost him. This happened because of me…_

**

   She had never thought she would see him again, and the pain of his loss had become a constant, dull ache in her heart that she could never escape. Which was fine, because she didn’t want to escape it. She didn’t want to forget what one brave Lion had done to protect a lamb like her, and so she endured, gained a new owner and carried on with the life he had given her.

Until that day.

    When she had felt the call, she had been braced for anything because while Sorano was kinder in her own way than Karen had been, she was still a far cry from the owner she dreamed of having one day. What she hadn’t been prepared for was the sight of Leo in front of her. A Leo who was obviously at full strength, and bearing his Celestial powers once more and the dull ache had blossomed into a sharp pain as she had realised that her wish to see him one more time had been granted in the worst way possible. _We’re enemies._ Tears had brimmed in her eyes at that realisation. It wasn’t fair. After all this time of wanting to thank him for what he had done, and to apologise for not being strong enough to protect herself, she was going to be forced to fight him instead.

    A little of that pain had eased when the blonde Celestial mage had begged for them not to fight, fresh tears trickling down Aries’ cheek as she realised that Leo must have spoken of her to his new master. _He remembered me._ Even from here she could see the bond between them, and feel that the girl honestly didn’t want them to fight and she managed to smile through her tears, he had found a wonderful owner. She was slightly envious, but her relief and joy that he had finally got the home he deserved overwhelmed that feeling, and it allowed her to straighten. She knew that they had to fight. It was what they were meant for after all, but at least now she knew that he had a safe place to return to, that he was out there somewhere and that maybe one day, she would get the chance to tell him everything that burned in her heart.

   The fight was short-lived, and her heart broke a little when she realised she had been used to trap Leo. That she had become his weakness yet again, even though they now had different masters, and as they both began to disappear and she heard him shouting an apology to his owner and saw the blonde’s tears, she cried out. _Please, I can’t lose him again._ Frantically she stretched out her hand towards him, blinking back tears as she realised that he was doing the same, his eyes fixated on her face and despite the pain, and even though they were about to be separated again, she smiled at him.

_I got to see you again…_

**

    She got to see him again, only a few days later and this time they weren’t enemies. It had been Gemini who had suggested that they seek out Lucy once they had been freed from Sorano, and Aries had agreed at once, hoping that she would at least be given a chance to see Leo again and maybe even have the opportunity to say the words that had bubbled up ever since they’d had thought. _I’m sorry. I missed you. I love you._ She had never really dared to let herself hope that the Celestial mage would be willing to take them in just like that, even after seeing Lucy shed tears over what had happened between her and Leo, and she hadn’t known what to say when Lucy had welcomed them all with a smile. Although she had been slightly alarmed when she had been held back when their contracts had been agreed, and completely shocked when the Celestial mage had wrapped her in a tight hug, before whispering with a smile.

“Go, he’s waiting for you!”

    Her heart had been hammering in her chest at those words, and she wasted no time in obeying, adding thanking her new mistress to her list of things to do. Although that thought had promptly disappeared the moment, she had materialised in the Celestial mage to find Leo…Loke…she remembered Lucy calling him, standing there waiting for her, his arms open in invitation, and she had wasted no time in rushing to him and wrapping her arms around him.

“Leo…Leo…Leo,” she chanted, tears streaking down her cheeks as she felt the dull ache she had carried all this time slowly fading away, and she let out a soft meep when she felt him press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “Leo?”

“Aries…” His voice was choked with emotion, and when she peered up at him, she was stunned to find his eyes swimming with tears too, even as a soft smile played on his lips. She wasn’t sure whether it was the smile or the fact that he was emotional as she was, but something gave her the courage to lean up and press her lips to his, feeling the way his breath hitched for a moment before he responded eagerly and when they pulled away his eyes were shining. “I missed you,” he murmured softly, leaning down to kiss her again and all thoughts of apologising and talking about what had happened disappeared, she just wanted to savour this moment.

“Yeah, I missed you too.”

_I love you…_


End file.
